Free At Last
by FeminineFerocious
Summary: As there last year of Highschool dawns on them,the swim club makes the most of there time spent together, Haru doesn't want to end the year in guilt over his friend Rin, and Makoto can't leave his feelings unsaid. A new swim team from the big city comes to challenge their town, old friends return, can the boys free themselves at last?


**Ferocious: Hello everyone! Thanks for clicking on this page, It's been while since i've written anything on Fanfiction, but I have done some reading! I usaully stuck to the YuGiOh fandom, but occasionally i'll check out others. I decided to get back into Fanfiction for a bit, so i'm testing it again. I just recently got into Free! And i've been having some ideas for a possible story, so I just couldn't help myself. I'll tell you how I got into it after this chapter.**

This is the prologue for now, this will be a Yaoi, and I will bump up the rating later. Please enjoy: Free At Last ^^

Prologue:

The sun gleamed in the reflection of the water as a still body floated peacefully, like an island in it's own unique world. An island of flesh, and raven hair.

"Haru!" The body in the water stirred slightly, slowly opening his eyes, blue irises searched for the voice.

"How long have you been in there Haru? We gotta go!" The exasperated tone grew fonder. Haru could've practically located him through sound alone.

The boy Haru swam to the edge of the pool as he glanced up to the face eclipsing the sun, his best friend Makoto. The brunette smiled gently at the free swimmer, holding his hand out.

"C'mon Haru, we have a team meeting to get to remember? Gou will flip if we're late again!"

Haru stared up at Makoto then sighed. He grabbed Makoto's hand and let his friend hoist him out of his world, the Iwatobi swimming pool. Makoto handed Haru a towel as they walked towards their locker rooms.

Haru asked,"So what's this meeting about?"

"I'm not sure, maybe something about a new training regimen, or maybe she's got us roped into some elaborate scheme to get more people to join the club. Hopefully with our clothes on this time!" Makoto joked, his ears tinting red.

They entered the locker room, Nagisa and Rei were already present sitting on the benches, still in there school uniforms, chatting away.

Ms. Ami was grading some papers by her desk, as they waited for Gou to finish writing in her notebook to start the meeting. When the red head saw Haru and Makoto arrive she stood up.

"Great the gangs all here! Good job Makoto for fishing Haru out from the pool!"

"Sure, no problem at all!" Makoto assured. He and Haru sat down waiting for Gou to begin. "Alright guys, I do have a new training regimen that I would like to implement. However I do have some other news as well. Something I find rather interesting in fact."

The boys let her continue. "Now, I'm not entirely certain if this is true or not, it's mostly a rumor, but I've heard that a swim team from one of Tokyo's best academy's is coming to town to host a big competition with some of our schools. Have any of you heard this news?"

The boys shook their heads. Rei held his chin in his hands and asked,"Where did you hear that from Gou?"

"My brother. You know Rin, he's always in the know when it comes to contests. I just wanted to bring your attention to it, since it seems they want to compete against Samezuka and us."

Nagisa's eyes widened."Really? Dang, why would they want to race both of us?"

"Well, my guess is they want to make this a big thing, Samezuka is technically the best swim school in Iwatobi, but considering we won regionals last year, they want to swim against us too. There's also some charity event that they want the swimmers to do as well." Gou flipped over her notebook to check to see if she left anything out.

At hearing the mention of Rin Harus head went down, unnoticed by the others, but not Makoto. The brunette felt the mood drop instantly, but kept silent. He decided to wait after the meeting to bring it up.

After wards, Haru and Makoto began walking home, the ocean gleaming as the brunette chatted away about a frog that "came back to life in science class, and a girl fainted." Haru stayed quiet, just letting his friend talk.

"So Haru, what's going on with you man?" Makoto couldn't help but blurt out.

Haru slowed, but then quickened his pace. "Nothing, I don't want to talk about it right now." He already knew what Makoto was going to say.

Makoto sighed, not surpised Haru didn't to talk yet. Last year the drama with Rin nearly destroyed him, plus those competitions didn't help with the stress either. Now they were in their Senior year, so hopefully things would get better.

"Ok, I understand, but remember you can talk to me whenever you want ok? We're all worried about you," _"I'm worried about you."_

The blue eyed swimmer slowed his pace slightly, but then picked it up like normal.

"Yea, everything's fine."

Makoto noticed already that wasn't the case. He knew Haru too well, so why was he hiding from him? He knew he would never judge him. With a sigh, Makoto decided not to make it a big deal, he knew Haru would open up to him eventually.

Makoto was the most patient with Haru, he knew there was no need to pry. Besides, he already had an idea what it was about.

 _'It's about Rin isn't it Haru? I know last year was a bit hectic with him coming back in our lives, I understand, but… Why are you still in pain?'_ Makoto wanted to voice his thoughts so bad, but he couldn't. He knew now wasn't the right time.

As they approached their neighborhood, Haru turned o Makoto. "You busy tonight?"

Makoto pondered for a moment. The twins were having a sleep over with some kids from their school, his mom said she would supervise them, and his dad was going out with friends. "My house is actually gonna be a little packed tonight with the twins having there friends over. My mom said she'll take care of it. Why?"

"Mr. Yamato's been riding me lately saying I need to redo the assignment from last week, wanna stay over and help me out with it?"

Makoto gave him his brightest smile. "Yea man! Is some of my stuff still in the same place?"

"Of course dude, come in." Haru opened the door for Makoto letting him go first. Makoto took his shoes off as he entered.

-Samezuka Academy-

At the lockers many of the boys were getting ready to go home, cracking jokes and towels on each other as the sun went down. A certain red haired boy was drying off his hair.

"Rin sir! Great job today! You smoked us today on the times!" A young boy named Nitori exclaimed. His gray eyes gleamed happily.

Rin sighed. "Of course, were you expecting any different?" He handed Nitori the towel as he but on his shoes.

Nitori shook his head. "No, but its amazing how you keep improving! I wanted to ask your opinion on this new method I've been working on…" As Nitori rambled on about some work out with rings, Rin looked through his bag for his deodorant. He saw his dad's picture and he couldn't help but stare at it.

"Rin?" The shark boy lifted his head then said,"Oh yea the rings are a great way to get into shape, a lot of guys from the Olympics do that, they're brutal though. Be careful with those ok?"

Nitori couldn't help but blush. "Ok, sure thank you."

"I might even try that with you, I've been thinking about doing something new myself, let me know when you get the rings ok?" Rin grabbed his bag and headed out the door.

Nitori practically glowed with happiness. "You bet Rin! I'll start getting on that right away!"

Rin decided to take a walk, wanting to clear his head. It had been 4 months already but he still wasn't completely over what happened. He hadn't really spoken to Haru in while, he was also thinking about this new swim team that was coming into town.

He hoped Gou had already told the swim club about those guys.

He then took off into a sprint to clear his head some more, even though he had a big workout earlier in the pool, he didn't mind a run once in a while. As he ran, he thought he was being watched, he slowed a little and took a look around.

Nobody was around, so he kept jogging. He ran through the trees, he thought of last year during those competitions, and of a certain blue eyed boy. Rin and Haru were arguing late at night...

 _"Forget it! I'm done with swimming! If I can't beat you it's meaningless!" Rin yelled at the raven haired boy._

 _Haru held up his hands in a calming gesture. "Please Rin, you can't keep putting ourself through this. I'm trying to help, don't push me away!"_

 _The red head seethed, his shoulders bunching up and down. "Help? You trying to steal the scout I was searching for is helping? I worked my ass off for him to notice me, and you get to him without breaking a sweat! They're gonna throw me on the back burner, but you made sure you're secure huh!? Do you hate me that much Haru!"_

 _Haru's eyes widened in shock. "No Rin! Of course not! If anything I… I care about you! I was trying to get that scout for you! I didn't even know the principal gave them my information!"_

 _They had kept arguing back and forth, it was the middle of the night, they were inside the locker rooms of Iwatobi's school. Finally Rin threw up his hands and decided to just leave. He couldn't take it anymore. Haru had grabbed him, trying to make him understand._

 _Suddenly, Rin grabbed Haru and they wrestled each other to the ground. Rin ended up being on top, he growled as he lifted his fist ready to beat Haru._

 _Before he did anything, Haru gazed at Rin calmly and whispered,"You're gonna hit me? Go ahead. Whatever makes you feel better." Rin paused, his fist staying in the air. He noticed Haru stopped struggling, his body limp beneath him._

 _Haru continued. "I'm sorry for hurting you, I never meant too. Do whatever you want, so long as I can make it up to you." He closed his eyes._

 _Lowering his fist, Rin stared at Haru, contemplating what he should do. He was still frustrated, unsatisfied. He then lowered his face close to Haru's brushing his lips lightly. Haru's eyes shot open. Holding his gaze, Rin said, "Maybe you can make it up to me…"_

Rin opened his eyes as he realized he'd been standing there too long. It was nightfall already, and he figured he should head back to his dorm. He noticed he was getting sticky with sweat, and it was not from the jog… He walked back to his dorm, his face still hot despite the cold night air.

He entered his room dropping his bag on the floor. Nitori was busy with his homework on his desk, the younger looked up as Rin walked in. "Hi Rin! How was your jog? Is it cold outside?"

Rin plopped on his bed, his hands behind his head. "Nah, running kept me warm." ' _Among other things…'_

Nitori wrote notes on his home work. "I see, I was thinking about taking a jog myself, but there's all these reports I gotta do."

"Just make sure to clean up when you're done," Rin grumbled. He didn't want to have to clean up after him again. "The next person to room with you will be picked soon, so try not to burden them with clutter ok?"

Nitori stopped writing in his homework. That's right, with the start of the new school year, the guys were switching roommates; and since Rin was a year older than him, he was definitely going to be moving out. He hadn't yet because a couple of students were late registering.

"Right… No worries Rin, I'll make sure to keep it nice and clean in here…" Nitori mumbled.

Rin noticed Nitori's change of tone. He glanced at the younger swimmer, noticing his head down. "Hey, are you giving me sass?"

Nitori blushed. "What? No of course not Rin I was just-" He felt Rins hands grip his shoulder, the red head put his face close to him. "You better watch that mouth of your Nitori. You're still gonna do that work out I got for ya right?"

Nitori bobbed his head up and down. "Definitely! In fact I'll do double, just watch-" As Nitori rambled on Rin mentally chuckled. To others it may seem like Nitori kisses up to him, but he knew the younger swimmer genuinely respected him.

-Harus House-

Makoto was looking through channels to find this one movie he wanted to see, Haru was cooking mackerel in the kitchen. They had finished there homework.

"Hey Haru! Is the food ready yet?" Makoto made his way into the kitchen. He couldn't help but smile at Haru's apron.

"Almost, keep your shirt on." Haru began to prepare there plates.

Makoto sat at his dining table on the floor, his chin in his hand. He had noticed a pamphlet on a new aquarium that had opened up.

"Nice, they opened up a new one huh? When do you wanna go?"

"I was thinking this weekend if you're up to it." Haru had set the plates down, he poured Makoto a Pepsi. "You wanna go with me?"

"Of course, just… Please keep the stripping to a minimum," Makoto chuckled as he rubbed his neck. Every time he and Haru go to pet store, or an aquarium Haru starts stripping to get into the water. They've been kicked out at least five times…

Haru closed his eyes, and sipped his tea. After pause he murmured, "I make no promises."

Makoto bursted out laughing, his soda almost squirted out his nose.

Haru ate his fish, his chest warmed at having made Makoto laughed. He couldn't help but feel proud for some reason. They decided after dinner to check out this movie Makoto picked, called Free Willy. Haru loved this movie, it had been a while since they saw it.

As the film went on, Makoto watched Haru carefully, knowing that something was still bugging his best friend. Haru paused the movie saying he had to got to the restroom really quick. As he went, Makoto was trying to figure out how to bring it up.

When Haru stepped back in the living room he noticed Makoto's change in mood. "Hey, you ok?"

Makoto jumped slightly, he didn't realize he came back. He smiled brightly up at him "Yea, I'm fine man… What about you?"

"I'm good." Haru sat next to him, but neither made a move to play the movie. They both knew the other had something to say.

After five minutes of awkward silence, Makoto mumbled that he was gonna brush his teeth then got up to take his turn in the restroom.

Haru breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Makoto was only looking out for him, but he wasn't ready to talk about what happened between him and Rin. The guilt still gnawed at him...

 _"Maybe you can make it up to me..."_

Haru's eyes closed at the memory. His body limp... Vulnerable... His heart pounding...

"Haruka?"

Said boy nearly jolted as he saw Makoto leaning over him with his hand on his shoulder. "Don't call me that."

Makoto smiled in relief. "Sorry man, but you spaced off, I had to get your attention somehow," he patted the shorter boy's shoulder. "How's about we hit the hay?"

Haru hummed. They went to his room, getting ready for bed. Makoto pulled out the futon settling in. He stared up at Haru as the blue eyed boy stared down at him.

"You comfortable down there?" Haru asked.

Makoto nodded,"Yea i'm good, why?"

Haru shrugged. "Just making sure... It's been a while since we had a sleep over. If you have any nightmares i'll wake you up ok?"

Face burning up Makoto mumbled thanks, then turned over so his back was to Haru. He buried his face into his pillow, willing to fall asleep.

Haru continued to stare at Makoto then he lay on his back staring up at the ceiling. As he closed his eyes, he felt his body drift away again...

 **END OF PROLOGUE**

 **Alright! I hope you all enjoyed it so far, sorry if it seemed a little short, it's just the prologue for now. So, really quick I got into Free! By watching it's Abridged series 50 % off firs, then the show xD, and it got me hooked. This will be a multi chapter story, I promise it will have its** ** _moments_ :3 If there are some questions feel free to ask, i'll answer them without spoiling anything as best as I can. Please review! ^^**

 ****Next chapter, a swim team from the big city comes into town...**


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